Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
Customer experience is a priority for companies more than ever before, with many brands shifting their primary presence online rather than in brick-and-mortar stores. Think about companies such as Asos, Girlfriend Collective and Everlane, which have built strong online presences and offer the majority of their products and services through these channels.
As the competition among brands intensifies in the online space, companies need to find ways to attract and keep customers. One way to do this is by considering how the experience (CX) and public relations (PR) teams can work together.
By collaborating, these teams can create a positive customer experience and build customer loyalty and trust, ultimately helping the company to achieve its business goals. By prioritizing customer satisfaction and improving the overall experience, companies can differentiate themselves from their competitors and increase their chances of success online.
In addition, by leveraging customer experience insights PR pros can tailor their communications and marketing plans to focus on customer voices and stories. Below are three other reasons why CX and PR should collaborate.
CX and PR Both Impact Reputation
According to Brianna Langley Henderson from Waste Connections, who wrote an article for CMSWire, companies need both public relations strategies and a focus on delivering high-quality customer experiences, especially during times of crisis, to enhance their brand awareness and reputation.
In today’s connected world, where information is readily available and quickly spread, managing a company’s reputation has become even more crucial. Negative publicity, whether justified or not, can spread rapidly and have long-lasting effects.
On the other hand, a positive reputation can contribute to increased trust and credibility, helping companies establish a competitive advantage and drive business growth. If CX and PR teams work together more closely, people may be able to spot potential issues before they become a bigger problem.
Both Teams Have Valuable Data to Share
CX and PR teams often both have important information and knowledge to share. Victoria Zambito, Vector Solutions with Forbes, reminds people to get out of their silos and communicate with each other because “the customer experience is not the sole responsibility of any single person, team or department; it is a universal value within your organization.”
In addition, as companies collect more data from a variety of sources, like customer engagement from social media campaigns or user experience data at online checkout, they’ll want to share that information broadly throughout the enterprise for improved decision making.
Both Can Play a Role in Shaping Brand Messages
A brand message is the central idea or message that a company wants to convey to its target audience through its marketing and communication efforts. It encapsulates the unique value proposition, tone of voice, and personality of the brand, and serves as a guide for all internal and external communications.
The brand message should be consistent across all touchpoints and channels, from advertising to customer service interactions, to reinforce the brand identity and create a memorable experience for customers. The brand message should also reflect the company’s mission, values, and personality, and be relevant and appealing to its target audience.
As brand messages evolve, PR and CX will each have unique insight. PR teams will likely understand the media and influencer landscape and their current perceptions of the brand, whereas CX may have direct access to customer feedback, the customer journey, insight into pain points and preferences. Both perspectives are important when considering brand evolution.
As companies focus on building a strong online presence, customer experience and public relations remain vital functions for most companies. By working together, CX and PR teams can leverage valuable data to improve customer satisfaction and create a consistent, positive experience. This collaboration can help companies differentiate themselves from their competitors and achieve their business goals, making it a priority for brands that prioritize the customer experience.
Today, there are a plethora of tools that an organization may use to communicate with employees. These include email, company intranet, video conferencing solutions like Zoom, instant messaging platforms like Slack or Microsoft teams and more.
Creating an internal communications strategy, including guidelines for how to use tools, can benefit communicators in their efforts to share information with employees effectively. A strategy will help deliver important information to employees in a timely and effective manner, which can improve collaboration, enhance employee engagement and drive better business outcomes.
When putting together a strategy for internal comms, it’s important to keep these key points in mind:
- Outline objectives and goals. When creating a strategy, it’s critical to define what you want to achieve. Do you want to improve employee engagement? Streamline communication? Foster a more collaborative work environment? All the above? Once you know your objectives, you can then plan accordingly.
- Develop your plan. Clearly outline the steps necessary to implement the strategy, including defining a timeline and milestones and determining the resources and budget necessary to execute the plan. Additionally, consider who your stakeholders are, such as leadership, HR or communicators involved in internal messaging. Identifying stakeholders early on will ensure that everyone involved understands their role and can effectively contribute to the success of the plan.
- Define roles and responsibilities. Assign communicators, such as internal communication, PR or marketing teams, or other team members with specific roles and responsibilities, including administrators, content creators and/or project managers. Designating team roles from the beginning can help drive success and better communication. For example, a company intranet is a key tool for sharing company updates, business performance, leadership changes and more. Having a defined intranet team will ensure that they coordinate to gather and share information quickly and accurately.
- Consider the advantages and disadvantages of communication platforms. Think about how tools integrate with your company activities, such as team meetings, town halls, employee and team recognition programs and other business-related activities. Another consideration is the message itself. Is it relevant to all employees or a select few? Is the platform’s format (video, email, etc.) the right fit for the message’s intent? Timeliness is also crucial. Messages should be sent at the appropriate time, considering time zones and working hours, so some messages may be better via email than instant messaging platforms.
- Develop content creation guidelines. To implement your strategy successfully, it’s important to ensure all employees are aware of the processes and standards. Develop guidelines for employees that include the following: purpose and goals for the channel, best practices and etiquette for publishing content, the content approval process, and the platform’s owners and their role. Establishing clear content creation guidelines, accessible on the platform, can effectively communicate expectations and foster engagement.
- Provide training to employees. Consider training employees on how to use the company’s communication tools to their benefit. This can promote familiarity with a tool’s purpose and reduce discomfort and increase knowledge sharing and collaboration.
- Measure effectiveness. Evaluate the impact of your communications activities on your organization and employees and adjust your internal comms strategy and processes as needed.
Having a well-defined internal communications strategy can be a game-changer for companies. Companies can more effectively get their message across to employees, helping people feel more engaged, self-sufficient and satisfied. It all adds up to be a more productive and connected workplace, leading to improved overall outcomes for the company and its employees.
In PR, rapid response situations often arise. For example, inbound media inquiries often need a quick turnaround because of journalists’ deadlines. In addition, journalists posting queries on websites such as HARO and Qwoted often require responses within short timeframes.
These types of requests are common, so it’s a good idea have processes in place to effectively manage them. If these inquiries are addressed and executed correctly, PR professionals can secure important media opportunities for clients and demonstrate their ability to move quickly to meet media’s requests.
Here are a few best practices to consider as part of your rapid response process:
- Evaluate the request: Determine if the request is relevant and if you or your client can add value to the discussion. Is the publication and audience a good fit? Will the information be beneficial? Can you offer an unbiased, fact-based, or original response? Can you realistically meet reporters’ deadlines and expectations?
- Select a spokesperson: Determine who from the organization will serve as the spokesperson for each opportunity based on their job title and experience. Understand if they have the bandwidth to support interviews as needed or review written responses.
- Coordinate briefings or provide a written response: Depending on the opportunity, you may want to schedule an interview or develop a written response such as a Q&A or quote. If it’s a complicated topic, you might also offer to develop a contributed article.
- Ask for feedback: At the end of the interview, ask if the information was helpful and if it’s something the journalist plans to use. If so, find out when they think the story will publish. Feedback is a great way to improve performance, build stronger relationships and grow your skills.
- Monitor for the coverage: After the content is submitted or the interview is complete, monitor for the coverage and flag it to the team once it is live.
By following these steps, you can ensure you’re equipped to handle media requests with urgent or short deadlines efficiently while also helping your clients secure even better editorial coverage.
As we close out the first month of a new year, it’s common for company morale to hit some speedbumps. The start of a new year brings its own set of challenges. With recent news about employee layoffs and a looming recession, it’s understandable for employees to feel anxious and concerned, and it’s vitally important for leaders to find ways to boost employee morale. Recognizing and appreciating employees is one of the most effective ways to do so.
Recognition can take many forms, including verbal or written appreciation, bonuses and award programs. In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at the benefits and considerations of employee and team award programs.
Awards in professional environments can generate mixed reviews. Some awards can be effective in improving morale and a sense of teamwork, while others might foster a toxic and overly competitive environment. Below are some of the pros and cons of award programs:
Pros:
- Awards can make the individual or team feel more valued and appreciated.
- Recognition can increase motivation and engagement across the team.
- Company recognition programs can also improve retention if employees feel their contributions are valued and making an impact.
Cons:
- Awards run the risk of seeming insincere or condescending.
- Potential exists to create resentment and unhealthy competition among colleagues and teams.
- It’s possible introduce biases in the award selection process.
It’s important to have a firm understanding of company culture and how teams might react and engage with the award. Crucial to avoiding the cons listed above include having clear objectives for the award and transparent communication about the process, criteria and purpose.
When creating or updating an award program, consider the following best practices:
- Align awards with company goals and values. Prioritize behaviors that align with and reinforce company goals and values. This will help motivate the team and efforts toward a common goal and reinforce that their efforts are valued and make an impact.
- Ensure consistency. For the award to be effective, it needs to be consistent and have a recurring cadence. Share the recognition close to the action the company is recognizing to make it more meaningful.
- Celebrate it publicly within the company! Publicly acknowledging the award during regular team meetings, in an all-company email, or in person can help increase awareness and boost morale.
Awards can be effective in motivating employees and bringing teams together. However, companies should consider the pros and potential cons of employee award programs with their own teams and culture in mind. Clear objectives, consistent communication, and alignment with company goals and values are key to making the awards successful.
Check out the blogs below for more guidance on how to support employee well-being.
- Improving Mental Health Awareness in the Workplace
- Supporting Employee Engagement and Wellbeing
- In Defense of Fun Fun Fun in the Workplace
Do you have team awards in place? What best practices worked for your company?
Thought leadership is a powerful tool for building credibility, establishing yourself as an expert in your field, and gaining visibility for your brand.
A key element of successful thought leadership is storytelling. Using stories to communicate your ideas and insights can engage your audience, build emotional connections, and make your message more memorable.
One of the most powerful aspects of storytelling is its ability to bring abstract concepts to life. Instead of simply listing facts and figures, employ stories to illustrate your points. Draw on personal experience and include details surrounding people, place, plot and purpose. This process will enhance the relatability of your message and foster emotional connections with your audience, increasing the likelihood that they will remember and act on the information you’ve conveyed.
Another advantage of storytelling as part of thought leadership is that it allows you to showcase your expertise and insights in an engaging and informative way. By using storytelling as part of your thought leadership strategy, you can create a sense of authenticity, which is crucial for building trust with your audience.
Establishing oneself as a media reference can be a powerful way to drive thought leadership and gain visibility. Here are some steps you can take to become a media reference:
- Develop a platform: To build yourself up as a media reference, focus on a specific area of expertise. Identify the topics and issues you are most passionate about and have the most knowledge about, and focus on those areas.
- Build relationships with journalists: This is an essential part of becoming a media reference. Reach out to journalists in your niche and introduce yourself. Offer to be a source for their stories and provide insights and commentary on relevant topics.
- Create compelling content: Write articles, blog posts, and whitepapers on topics relevant to your niche and share them with journalists. Make sure to make the most of your thought leadership content – The Four R’s: Tips for reusing thought leadership content.
- Participate in industry events: Attend conferences, seminars, and other events related to your platform and speak on relevant topics.
- Use social media: Social media is a powerful tool. Share your content and insights on social media and engage with other thought leaders in your niche.
- Leverage your network: Reach out to other thought leaders and experts in your niche and ask them to share your content and promote your expertise.
- Measure and evaluate your progress and adjust your approach as needed: Keep track of how many times you were quoted or interviewed by media, and use that data to identify opportunities to improve your media visibility.
- Be consistent: Establishing oneself as a media reference takes time and consistency. It is important to continue to share your insights and engage with the media over time.
By following these steps, you can establish yourself as a media reference and drive thought leadership. By consistently providing valuable insights and commentary, you can build credibility, increase visibility and establish yourself as a go-to expert in your field.
Training plays a crucial role in the success of an organization. Whether it’s staff onboarding, mandatory state training or other educational meetings, training can help employees develop skills for their everyday work. It can also help them stay current with industry developments, technology advancements and best practices.
To put it simply, creating practical training can have a positive impact on employee growth, productivity and job satisfaction.
However, creating a truly effective learning environment can be difficult. Managers may have trouble ascertaining their team’s training needs, feel too busy to organize and develop materials or have limited resources.
With this in mind, I’ve outlined some best practices when creating employee training programs or materials.
- Set training outcomes – Establish clear training objectives to determine the specific knowledge, skill and behaviors you want the employee to gain. To understand whether your training was effective, conduct pre- or post-training assessments to measure any improvements.
- Develop effective training materials – Create materials such as handouts, presentations, videos and interactive activities that cater to different learning styles and don’t forget to include concrete examples. Keep in mind that these materials can benefit all employees, even the most experienced staff. They also can help give newer employees the confidence to be more independent, reducing the need to ask for help from senior staff.
- Train staff for insight and not just production – Consider training staff in tasks they may not normally do in their day-to-day, also known as cross-training. While it may seem counterintuitive, the insight can be invaluable for employees’ growth and companies’ ability to adapt to changing workloads. Employees not only gain skills but also understand the roles and expectations of their co-workers. Cross-training can also be beneficial should a staffing shortage occur. If someone were out sick or on vacation, they would still have someone they could count on when needed.
- Help employees measure success – It’s vital to help employees create measured and trackable goals. By providing tools for tracking progress, employees can understand where they have excelled and where there is room for improvement. A goal-setting method such as SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound, can ensure that their goals are clear and achievable.
- Encourage and incorporate feedback – In the spirit of continually improving your training programs, it’s a good idea to gather feedback from current trainees so you can refine it as needed for your next training. After all, great teachers are always learning themselves.
With these best practices in hand, revisit your current training practices and see where your organization can grow. Businesses will find that they can better support staff and boost the quality of their work when they invest time and effort into their training.